22 Jump Street
Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube
Dir. : Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum return to Jump Street for a new undercover assignment. Their duty: to find the suppliers and dealers of a new synthetic drug called "WhyPhy" which is some kind of mixture of adderall and hallucinogens. Hijinks and bromance ensues.
22 Jump Street is a great follow up to the original 21 Jump Street. 21 Jump Street was a film that took me by surprise. When I initially saw the trailers for it I wasn't amused, but upon its release I noticed that it was being well received and well reviewed by critics and decided to see it. It was one of the best surprises ever and one of my favorite comedies of the past five years.
22 Jump Street isn't as strong as the original. This is a fact that the film itself pokes fun at. The main characters are told early in the film that they will be doing an undercover assignment similar to the one in the first film and one of the characters knowingly comments that "it's not as good the second time." It's self-aware and filled to the brim with meta humor. The meta jokes wear thin after a while, however, and ultimately only work about half the time. When they worked, though, I was laughing pretty hard.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are at their best when they are serving up jokes and gags at a frenetic pace. What works for them in films like The Lego Movie and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs works for them here. The film kept me consistently entertained and delivered a lot of laugh out loud moments. Ice Cube in particular had some very funny moments in the film, and Hill and Tatum deliver great comic performances as well.
One last thing before my rating. Stay for the credits. Watch all of it. It's great.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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